1939 42 s/n 114 r

[Peteyboy]

Doubs said:
The change from S/42 to just 42 came in 1939. S/42 production in 1939 was approximately 38,500. The production of 42 Lugers began about serial number 200r and your serial number suffix letter is a W. There were approximately 85,500 Lugers marked 42 produced in 1939. If I had to guess - and that's what I'm doing - I'd say your Luger was made in September, 1939. It could have been late August or even early October but IMO the best guess is September.

I just bought a 1939 42 Luger with s/n 114 r. I quess my 114 r is a bit before the approximately 200 r beginning number shown above. Can this be true?

[mrerick]

I have moved this post to it's own thread. Please open questions like this in their own thread instead of adding them to older existing threads.

[mrerick]

Luger pistols were manufactured in batches at the factory in Oberndorf.

The "S/42" and "42" were concealment codes that identified Mauser.

Parts were not wasted at the Mauser factory. It's more than possible that batches manufactured during the changeover of the concealment code could have been made with newer parts as needed.

This may have happened as a pistol batch passed through the factory out of sequence of serial numbers, or if a part previously marked was in shorter supply.

"That part has the newer concealment code and should be thrown out", said no German ever...

It's possible that you have the earliest example found of this concealment code switch over...

[tharpo]

Hallock and Van de Kant estimate that there were 5,993 1939-42 Luger produced in the "q" suffix. So many were produced before the "r" suffix.